Detroit Tigers relief pitcher Joe Nathan is congratulated after his save in the ninth inning of a baseball game against the Kansas City Royals in Detroit, Thursday, June 19, 2014. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

Thursday at Comerica Park, it was as if the Tigers had been dropped into a time tunnel.

Not back to long ago. Just April, and the first half of May.

It was like the Tigers were 27-12 again, and skipped the 9-20 span, which sent the club reeling. And as if the unfortunate, “I beat my wife” joke shockingly blurted out by manager Brad Ausmus on Wednesday, never occurred.

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Austin Jackson had an important hit. Miguel Cabrera hit a rocket for an RBI double to score him. Some guy named Martinez – although it was rookie J.D. instead of veteran Victor – hit a home run.

Joe Nathan, the active MLB saves leader and ninth all time, came out of the bullpen painting the corners of the plate with a 94 mph fastball. Not only did Nathan save the game, but he struck out the side in the process. Joba Chamberlain pitched a scoreless eighth inning to set up Nathan.

He came in relief of starter Anibal Sanchez, who was brilliant for seven innings. Did the ominous cloud, which had been following the Tigers, dissipate?

Ausmus apologized, this time more extensively, about his comment, while meeting with the media in his office Thursday morning. He said it had been a long 12 hours after he made a crack, which was anything but wise.

“I didn’t sleep well,” he said.

He didn’t blame anything or anybody – the pressure of the Tigers losing, the mainstream media, social media – for his predicament. Only himself.

“It was the worst day,” Ausmus said of his still brief stint as a manager. “I don’t want to candy coat it.”

The incident compounded an already difficult situation in which the Tigers’ 7-game lead had eroded to the point they fell out of first place in the American League Central for the first time in nearly a calendar year.

How should the good that happened to the Tigers Thursday be ranked in importance?

Nathan’s performance was outstanding. He didn’t remotely look like the same pitcher, who had labored so much in recent weeks. Aided by modern technology, which breaks down a pitcher’s arm angle during delivery precisely, it was discovered Nathan had dropped down a bit from last season, when he was one of MLB’s top closers with the Texas Rangers.

His velocity was up Thursday, and he was piecing the borders of each quadrant of the strike zone.

“We missed Joe. We really wanted him back to what he is. It was uplifting,” Ausmus said.

The performance by Sanchez was the second straight excellent one by a Tigers’ starting pitcher (Drew Smyly had one of the best starts of his career despite the loss Wednesday). It came on the heels of back-to-back stinkers by Detroit’s Cy Young duo of Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer, and what had been unanticipated down period for the Tigers’ starters.

Austin Jackson’s hit was significant. As he goes, regardless where he is hitting in the batting order, so do the Tigers’ tend to go offensively.

If age has caught up to Torii Hunter, the options are better for corner outfielder with Andy Dirks coming back at some point sooner instead of later, and the emergence of J.D. Martinez, who looks like a find. He was discarded by the MLB plankton known as the Houston Astros as he approaches salary arbitration eligibility and the pay raise it brings. Their loss has been the Tigers’ gain. He has power and is better than he had been billed defensively.

The Tigers have no such options in center field. They need Austin Jackson at his best. Lately, he has not been.

Ausmus handled himself well under the circumstances. Nobody condones his remark, but it’s impossible to believe it was the result of anything but foot-in-mouth disease we all get now and then. It was a decidedly human mistake.

It wasn’t just the win, either. It was how it unfolded.

Maybe it will mean something good for the Tigers on the nine-game road trip to Cleveland, Texas and Houston.